The Knowledge of the Holy

This is a humbling book. I would consider it essential Christian reading to ground oneself in the concept of an all powerful, knowing God. I have the paperback but I am jumping on the "First ebook I ordered" with this so I can have it on me CONSTANTLY!

'What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.' This quote is the opening sentence to chapter one. Tozer challenges the reader to do some tough thinking on what God is like. Each little chapter deals with a big theme. God's omniscience, mercy, love and other attibutes are addressed through careful thought and plenty of Scripture. This book is definitely a must read. It will change the most important thing in your life: how you view God.

Too many Christian books today seem more like self-help books or devote themselves to beating up the Body for the things the Church is not doing. It is helpful - perhaps even imperative - that more Christians spend time reading books that are worshipful and insightful. A.W. Tozer seemingly wrote books like this with ease. In The Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer goes through the many attributes of God, providing essays on those attributes and their importance in changing the attitudes of the believer towards God. One can only imagine the time spent in prayer and meditation over these wonderful aspects of God's character. The benefit to the believer is that Tozer has given a road map for contemplation of the Almighty and His attributes. Each chapter begins with a prayer, followed by Tozer lovingly inviting us to sup with the Father at His banquet, each course a hearty spiritual meal for the tired, hungry, and thirsty souls who crave greater meaning in their walk with the Father. The reading is not easy - nor should it be - for this discusses deep and weighty issues that challenge the believer beyond shallow platitudes and catchphrases. Having read many of Tozer's works, I can assure you that you cannot read his work and not be profoundly touched by the time he spends on these matters. Wise men seek wise counsel, and many years after his passing, Tozer continues to influence Godly men and women who seek first the kingdom of righteousness. BOTTOM LINE: A must-read for those who wish to deepen their faith as well as their understanding of God Almighty.

What a delight to read again this wonderful book. I was blessed to sit and pray over some of the most thoughtful comments on God's character and his love for me. It is a comfort to find in this temporal and unstable world, the eternal and the forever stable foundation on which I may build my life.

Get ready with a humble heart to climb into the clouds on top of the mountain to get a beautiful glimpse of the Creator. God says, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you". David said, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. To behold the beauty of the Lord..."

I think every Christian need to read this book

One of the areas that Christians tend to not think enough about is the absolute glory and greatness of Our God. I specifically said Christians with no such adjectives as “today” or “modern” because I think this has been a problem throughout history. In other words, unlike A. W. Tozer, in his book *The Knowledge of the Holy*, I don't think that the ancients had it so perfect and we only recently flubbed this up. Despite this and a few other minor quibbles, I was greatly edified by the above-titled book, and do recommend it. In his book, Tozer states from the outset that, since not everyone is able, due to education, time, etc., to read and understand the deeper studies in theology and Scriptural exegesis, he is going to pare down the concepts into a short, and easy to understand, volume. The format he uses is to begin each chapter by describing an attribute of God. He then uses that chapter to do two things. First off, he deals with explaining said attribute, and second, Tozer ties the concepts and chapters together by making clear that each of these attributes are constantly present in the Godhead. God is perfectly every single one of His attributes for eternity. Another theme of Tozer's is that not only does God deserve our praise, it is to our own good to praise Him. He doesn't need us or our praise. At least, He doesn't need us or our praise in the sense of the word *need* we normally understand. He only “needs” us because He chose to do so for our own good, so we could have the joy of serving and praising Him. In reality, He doesn’t need us, and His infinite love would be perfectly satisfied without us, if He chose. His love directed towards us (and any need that goes with us) is his *choice* and His gift to us. If you think of this, you can see the, as CS Lewis puts it in one of his works, “intolerable compliment” of His *choosing* to love and desire our best. Yet we repay the God of the Universe Who does this for us in what way? With disdain, a careless disregard, so forth. We do not give him the great glory He calls us to give Him, that He *DESERVES*, and that would be our greatest joy to give Him. We must remedy this, both to avoid sin and to experience the joy of God and growing in the knowledge of Him and His holiness. Despite some disagreements with Tozer, I agree with his message overall. The fact is that the Church (and thus individual Christians) are in a dark place of not trusting and loving God as we should. We must take God and the things of God more seriously, experience an increased awe of God, and begin to truly worship and praise Him. The only way for the Church to do this is to have the individual Christians that comprise the Church make a conscious choice to do this. Let us take up this necessary, worthy, right, and joyful challenge.

A.W. Tozer is one of those people I look forward to meeting in heaven. Until I read this book, I had been thinking of God in the wrong way. It is absolutely eye opening and helps the believer think of God in a way worthy of God. Definitely a book I will read more than once.

Highly recommended